Have you ever tallied up how much it would cost...

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

to replace everything in your household? From furniture to electronics, CDs and DVDs to collectibles, how much stuff do you have to replace?

I started a document sometime ago to track how much we have and what it would cost if we ever had to replace it for any reason, like theft or fire, etc.

I just adjusted the numbers with Christmas gifts and other recent purchases and my grand total is a value over $14K to replace all of our interior goods like furniture, electronics (tv, stereo, cameras, game systems, computer), and collectibles (Longaberger, diecast cars).

 

[ChristmasElf]

Living in Florida, this is something I always wondered about due to storms and hurricanes. I have a neighbor that was telling me how her insurance company suggested she go through the house a take pictures of everything she owns. All the furniture,appliances,pictures on the wall,tools in the garage, everything.

I did this same thing this past summer. I also tried to find as many receipts that I could, just in case I would ever have to prove I owned it and what it would cost to replace if it was ever lost or stolen or any other catastrophe.

 

[Sparx]

Not tallied it up, but it would be alot! we have probably 600 dvds(probably more), at least 150 vhs, probably 100 videogames (various consoles), and three consoles, five computers, and hundreds of books.

...I really my house doesn't catch on fire.

 

[sweet angel]

I'm thinking over $14K for furniture alone. Couple hundred CDs, maybe 50 DVDs, computer, iPods, televisions, game systems. Not to mention the priceless things (photos, etc) that couldn't be replaced.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

My insurance company's rule of thumb was to value the contents at the cost of the house for replacement value.

 

[saucymb]

OP: what a day you caused me to have!

I read this thread this morning, and DH and I started discussing the matter of replacement costs for our household items. We are building a house now, and know how much insurance we will have (basically the value of the house plus clean up costs in case the house is completely wiped out). We had never thought about what it would cost us to replace the things in the house.

So around 12 today I started a small tally...and here I am 9 hours later (2 hour break in there though), and have finally finished our "rough draft".

I thought our numbers would be in the $20-30k range...boy was I wrong!!! Between our furniture, kitchen stuff, electronics, DH's computer equipment, my craft stuff (do I really have $2000 worth of Scrapbooking supplies??? ), DH's hobby things, clothes, and so much other STUFF that I can't even list it all here, we are way way above what I thought we were at. That doesn't even include the boxes of things in our apartment that we never unpacked and I don't know what is in them. Enough that we are now worried about what we would do if our home were to be destroyed (fire, tornado, etc.). Tomorrow we'll be calling our insurance agent.

First of all, if anyone has any knowledge or experience with this matter, let me know!

Second of all, it's a good idea to get an inventory of what you have, so if the worst happens, you'll have an idea of how much cash you'll need to replace it. We found a good software program from our insurance site that we downloaded and I have begun to fill out.

God Bless the DIS!

 

[MoniqueU]

I am sitting in my great room right now. I am quite cetain I have more then 14k in this room alone. Just in Longaberger baskets I have over well I don't want to actually admit to how much I just spent on Longaberger baskets at Christmas.....
However if asked to provide reciepts for anything I would be in a world of hurt. I just do not save my reciepts for things on a regular basis. My best friend is always on me to save them in a file box but sheesh it feels like I would need a whole room for reciepts if I did that.

 

[arminnie]

Unfortunately I know a lot of people in New Orleans who are doing those calculations right now.

Before my moves, I took a camera and just tooks pictures of everything. I mailed the pictures to another address for safekeeping. In today's world I suggest uploading the digital images to a remote site.

 

[N.Bailey]

I'd think $14,000 would be way too low for most anyone. Are you putting the current value (as in used items) or are you doing replacement value? There is a huge difference between the two and if you're buying insurance, always go with the replacement cost.

14K wouldn't even cover the main furniture items in our house at replacement cost.

 

[barkley]

our insurance company advised us to go through each room with a video camera and go from shelf to shelf to capture book titles, dvd titles, cd titles, go through the bedrooms and scan the floors, closets, open all the dresser drawers, same with interiors of kitchen and hall cabinets.

you can generaly remember the big ticket items, it's the small stuff that adds up (think of how much all of those playstation games cost each, all the polly pocket accessories...).

it's also important to consider having an insurance policy that covers replacement value. ones that don't will only replace based on their actuary tables on the value of your items (the dvd that you bought for $20 at target but is now only available on ebay at $100 is likely to be valued at $1 by the insurance company-a 3 year old top of the line big screen tv may be valued at less than 5% what you paid cuz electronics lose value the minute they leave the store).

beyond having a video showing what each item in your home is, a written invantory can be invaluable (and you can always scan receipts into your computer and create an attachment that can be accessed). just keep a copy of the video and the invantory and receipts in a location other than your home (bank safety deposit box is great). one thing we did (and yes, it took forever) was to do a backup of all of the data on all of the computers in our home which was then stored at the safe deposit box. we sat down one day and realized the amount of lost information that would occur if our computer was stolen or destroyed and got to thinking about the tax records, bank records, personal and professional correspondance, digital photos...no amount of money from the insurance company could have replaced the man hours it would have taken to recreate the data (if it had even been possible).

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I'm a single parent with limited income. Most of this stuff is second-hand (or third-hand) and a million years old. To replace everything in my house will probably come to about $11.95.

 

[HonestAbe]

Well let's see....I probably have about 10 grand in just disney sculptures, another 5 grand in the 3 Disney Ellenshaw paintings (one of which is completely unreplaceable,) a garage full of power tools, snowblower, power washer, 55" big screen, 2 laptops, 4 computers, a server, 2 LCDs, xbox, xbox 360, ps2, gamecube, surround sound in 2 rooms, probably 200 dvd's, oak rolltop, hundreds of books, and all the other junk we have collected over the years. Wont even get started on furniture.

If this place burns down - I am so far up the creek I'll never recover financially. But what would be hardest would be if we lost our pets or God forbid I lost my wife in a disaster. None of that other stuff matters when it comes to life....

But maybe I should call my insurance agent....

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

See, now I didn't think to include clothing or things on the walls. And yes, I was figuring replacement values (what I could go buy it for today), not the purchase prices.

We live modestly, hence the lower total than some of you will tabulate. We rent, don't own, so I wouldn't be replacing carpet or appliances.

 

[pattyT]

not a fun project to think about!!!

I won't even do that til we are in the new house in the spring - since we are buying a lot of new stuff
but I the appliances alone will be 7-8k!!!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I do not keep track. I do take photos every so often.

 

[SC Minnie]

We took pictures of everyroom about a year after we moved into this house in '98 and put them in the bank in our safe deposit box. We haven't updated this since. I suggested video taping everything a couple of months ago but we 'just haven't gotten around to it'. I cleaned the house top to bottom this weekend and still didn't find the elusive 'round to it'.

Filming everything is going to be on my list to get done by the end of the week. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[mickeyfan2]

My insurance company's rule of thumb was to value the contents at the cost of the house for replacement value.

This is how our stuff is insured too.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

The video idea is one that was suggested to us a few years back. Around Christmas time several years ago, a bunch of houses (includign my cousins) in his neighborhood were burglarized. It wasn't until then that you realize that the insurance companies have the upper hand if you are unprepared. The ins co. basically put items into a "pool" and said (for example - cameras) - "okay you $500" - my cousin was like - hello - I had a 1 year old top of the line camcorder and a Minolta SLR - how do I replace them for $500?" - It was similar for their home computers too. So unless you can specifically show the ins. co. what you have and what needs to be replaced - you will be likely coming out with the short end of the stick.

I have done the video, and I have also kept a spreadsheet documenting item #'s and serial numbers - although I haven't been diligent in keeping it up to date laely, but this thread is as good a reason to spend an hour or so doing it.

If we had to replace everything in our home - I don't even want to contemplate - between 4-5 rooms of Ethan Allen furniture, and my extensive Home Theater setup - lots of time and money...and then there is my sports memorabilia collection....I gotta go take some video and update my spreadsheet - talk to you all later.

 

[ZachnElli]

The last time I looked at our home owners insurance policy, I'm pretty sure our replacement for all our stuff was 225K and that is not me adding it up. That's just what we'd get if our house burned to the ground. At first I thought that was alot, but then I got to thinking about every towel, fork and every small dodad we've ever bought, plus all our clothes. It does add up and I'm happy with that amount.

 

[barkley]

on the subject of clothing-

years ago we had just moved into our first home and there were piles of boxes in the garage. i was going through them and had put a good portion of what i considered my "nicer" work clothes (silk blouses, dressy 2-pc pantsuits, some suits) in a laundry basket to carry into the bedroom and put in the closet. well, the wind whips up one night and gust comes through a space above the garage door (old house) and manages to cut loose some insulation in the eves. the insualtion drops down and i get fiberglass, rusty nails and all the assorted junk all over the basket of "nice clothes". i contact several dry cleaners in the area and noone will touch it because of the fiberglass contamination. i submit the claim to the insurance company, they send an agent out to look at the stuff and aknowledge it is destroyed. the "value" they placed on the stuff floored me-silk blouses around $3, suits (less than a year old) around $15, dresses around $8. i could have seen it if they were dated styles, but these were classic styles that i had built a wardrobe around. luckily i had replacement value so once i purchased the replacements i was reimbursed the difference between the initial payout and what it cost me.